Posted on Fri, May 18, 2012 @ 08:54 AM
A husband and wife injured by a texting teenaged driver in 2009 are trying to break new legal ground by suing the person with whom he was exchanging messages right before the crash. David and Linda Kubert claim that because Kyle Best was answering a text from Shannon Colonna at the time, Colonna was "electronically present" in Best's pickup truck when it crossed the yellow line and hit them on their motorcycle, causing each of them to lose a leg. They also claim she knew or should have known Best was driving. In fact, she essentially admitted as much during her deposition, testifying she "may have known."
NOVEL SUIT SEEKS TO HOLD TEXTER LIABLE FOR CAUSING DRIVER TO LOSE CONTROL
For additional information regarding your lawsuit questions, please call the office for your free consultation at 800-709-1131 or visit the website simonattorneys.com
Posted on Thu, May 17, 2012 @ 08:42 AM
Walmart is being sued by a shopper who claims he suffered emotional distress from a rogue public address announcement at its Turnersville store. On March 14, 2010, shoppers heard a male voice calmly announce, "Attention Walmart customers: all black people must leave the store." A few minutes later, a manager went on the loudspeaker to apologize for the remarks. The store later learned by examining surveillance-camera footage that a 16-year-old had made the announcement. The teenager was prosecuted for harassment and bias intimidation. But Donnell Battie, who is black, claims Walmart was negligent and reckless, and showed deliberate indifference, by not safeguarding the P.A. system.
WALMART SUED OVER P.A. ANNOUNCEMENT TELLING BLACK SHOPPERS TO LEAVE STORE
For additional information regarding your harassment, discrimination or racial bias questions, please call the office for your free consultation at 800-709-1131 or visit the website simonattorneys.com
Posted on Wed, May 16, 2012 @ 03:01 PM
The New Jersey Supreme Court heard arguments Monday on whether a judge can decide, years after the defendant has completed his sentence, to impose lifetime community supervision when, for some reason, it was not made part of the original sentence. In State v. Schubert, A-15-11, the state asked the court to overturn an Appellate Division ruling that said imposing that sanction now, years after a sex offender completed his sentence, would be improper since the state "slept on its rights" and the defendant has an expectation of finality. Deputy Attorney General Brian Uzdavinis asked the court to re-impose lifetime supervision because it is legislatively mandated.
COURT MULLS IF MEGAN'S LAW STRICTURES MAY BE ADDED YEARS AFTER SENTENCE
For additional information regarding your individual legal questions, please call the office for your free consultation at 800-709-1131 or visit the website simonattorneys.com
Posted on Thu, May 10, 2012 @ 12:28 PM
A federal judge in New Jersey has excluded a disability finding by the Social Security Administration from evidence in a medical malpractice suit arising out of the same injury, lest the jury ascribe too much weight to it. Though agency decisions are public records, typically admissible under the federal evidence rules' hearsay exception, U.S. District Judge Renee Bumb ruled Wednesday, in Orber v. Jain, 10-cv-1674, that the potential prejudicial impact on the defendant doctors outweighs the probative value. Bumb cited a "lack of meaningful adversarial process with respect to the cause of Mrs. Orber's alleged disability" which "renders the SSA's conclusions on that issue unreliable."
SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY FINDING HELD INADMISSIBLE IN SUIT OVER SAME INJURY
For additional information regarding your social security disability questions, please call the office for your free consultation at 800-709-1131 or visit the website simonattorneys.com
Posted on Wed, May 09, 2012 @ 03:19 PM
A former school district official can have a jury decide her claim that she was fired for questioning whether proper procedures were followed in hiring a school superintendent. A state appeals court on Wednesday reversed summary judgment for the defendants and remanded the case for trial, Hallanan v. Township of Fairfield Board of Education, A-2585-10. The court held the record reflected that Lynne Hallanan, the Fairfield school board's affirmative action officer, had a reasonable belief that the board had not complied with its own guidelines and State rules in its selection of the superintendent of schools without an open competitive bidding process.
SCHOOL OFFICIAL'S WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIM CAN BE BASED ON STATE PUBLIC POLICY
For additional information regarding your employment law questions, please call the office for your free consultation at 800-709-1131 or visit the website simonattorneys.com
Posted on Tue, May 08, 2012 @ 02:54 PM
As far as one Monmouth County judge is concerned, New Jersey isn't ready to join the nearly half the states in the union that allow juveniles facing criminal-type charges to have their cases heard by juries. In a decision published April 27, Superior Court Judge Eugene Iadanza held a 1971 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found no constitutional right to a jury trial is still good law. "The fact that a minority of our sister states have chosen to deal differently with the issue under their state constitutions does not require this State to follow in their footsteps," Iadanza wrote in State in the Interest of A.C., FJ-13-1392-11W.
JUVENILE FACING PUNITIVE CONSEQUENCES HAS NO RIGHT TO JURY TRIAL
Please contact us if you are in need of legal advice regarding your criminal matter. 800-709-1131. We offer free consultations.
www.simonattorneys.com
Posted on Mon, May 07, 2012 @ 10:43 AM
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday to repair the growing rift among lower courts over the retroactive effect of its landmark ruling that requires lawyers to advise their clients about the possible deportation consequences of pleading guilty. The justices added to their fall docket the case of Chaidez v. United States, which poses the retroactivity issue raised by the Court's 2010 ruling in Padilla v. Kentucky. In that decision, a 7-2 majority found that when a lawyer fails to tell a client that a guilty plea as part of a plea agreement could expose the client to deportation, it amounts to ineffective assistance of counsel.
COURT TO DECIDE IF PADILLA APPLIES RETROACTIVELY
For additional information regarding your immigration questions, please call the office for your free consultation at 800-709-1131 or visit the website simonattorneys.com
Posted on Thu, May 03, 2012 @ 11:19 AM
Police overstepped their bounds by doing a room-by-room warrantless search of a rented shore house after responding to a noise complaint, the New Jersey Supreme Court says. The justices on Tuesday, in State v. Kaltner, A-8-11, unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that suppressed drugs seized from a bedroom. The court found no support for the state's argument that police were acting within bounds of their community-caretaker functions when, upon being admitted to the house where a party was in progress, fanned out for a full-blown search that included upstairs bedrooms.
JERSEY SHORE PARTY NOISE COMPLAINT DID NOT JUSTIFY SEARCH OF THE HOUSE
For additional information regarding your search and seizure questions, please call the office for your free consultation at 800-709-1131 or visit the website simonattorneys.com
Posted on Tue, May 01, 2012 @ 08:19 AM
The U.S. Justice Department says the government should not be forced to publicly disclose information about criminal cases involving mobile phone tracking in which the defendant was acquitted or the case was dismissed. The government's position was outlined in a public records suit the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation filed in Washington's federal trial court. The ACLU and EFF are reviewing cases in which federal agents used mobile phone tracking to follow suspects.
CITING PRIVACY, DOJ WANTS CELL PHONE TRACKING RECORD KEPT SECRET
For additional information regarding your criminal questions, please call the office for your free consultation at 800-709-1131 or visit the website simonattorneys.com
Posted on Mon, Apr 30, 2012 @ 03:36 PM
Justice Department lawyers in Washington ran afoul of their discovery obligations by holding on to witness information that undercuts the government’s case, a federal judge says. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler found “not the slightest doubt” that the government violated its obligation to turn over exculpatory information, committing a Brady violation. Federal prosecutors are deciding whether to ask the judge to reconsider her conclusion that the government wrongly held on to certain information in a criminal case against longtime criminal defense lawyer, Charles Daum.
IN CONSPIRACY CASE, JUDGE CHIDES DOJ OVER EXCULPATORY EVIDENCE
For additional information regarding your criminal questions, please call the office for your free consultation at 800-709-1131 or visit the website simonattorneys.com